tech-interview-handbook/apps/website/contents/interviewer-cheatsheet.md

---
id: interviewer-cheatsheet
title: 👩‍💻 Cheatsheet (Interviewer)
---

This is a straight-to-the-point, distilled list of technical interview Do's and Don'ts **for interviewers**, mainly for algorithmic interviews. Some of these may apply to only phone screens or whiteboard interviews, but most will apply to both. I revise this list before each of my interviews as an interviewer to remind myself of them and eventually internalized all of them to the point I do not have to rely on it anymore.

:::caution

If you are an interview candidate, this page is not crucial for you. However, having an understanding of what interviewers look out for can be helpful to you!

:::

#### Legend

- ✅ = Do
- ❌ = Don't
- ⚠️ = Situational

### Before interview

|  | Things |
| --- | --- |
| ✅ | Make sure your surroundings are well-lit. |
| ✅ | Find a quiet environment with good Internet connection. |
| ✅ | Ensure webcam and audio are working. Test that your VC app is working well. |
| ✅ | Prepare two to three questions and be familiar with the different approaches for solving the questions. Good questions have multiple solutions each with different tradeoffs. |
| ✅ | Choose questions from different topics to identify possible knowledge gaps. |
| ✅ | Familiarize yourself with the coding environment (CoderPad/CodePen). Set up the coding shortcuts, turn on autocompletion, tab spacing, etc. |

### Introduction

|  | Things |
| --- | --- |
| ✅ | Check if candidate wants to use the restroom or take a break. |
| ✅ | Give an overview of the interview format (introduction, duration, programming languages available, 5 min at the end for Q&A). |
| ✅ | Do a self-introduction and get the candidate to introduce themselves. |
| ✅ | Explain to candidate that there will be multiple questions (where relevant), they do not have to finish all questions and you might interrupt them abruptly. |
| ❌ | Allow the candidate to spend too long introducing themselves. |

### Upon delivering the question

|  | Things |
| --- | --- |
| ✅ | Ask if the candidate has seen the question before. |
| ✅ | Give a small example for the question and the desired output. |
| ✅ | Get the candidate to talk through the solution first before diving into coding. |
| ✅ | Provide hints where appropriate. |
| ✅ | If candidate is still stuck after providing hints, provide the solution and move to coding so that you can get coding signals. |

### During coding

|  | Things |
| --- | --- |
| ✅ | If whiteboard interview, stand alongside candidate but also giving them space, instead of being distant, e.g. seated down. |
| ✅ | Take note of all the [positive and negative signals](./coding-interview-rubrics.md). |
| ✅ | If you have multiple questions, don't let the candidate spend too long on one question, especially if the first question is an Easy one. |
| ❌ | Check the time in an overly-obvious manner. |

### After coding

|  | Things |
| --- | --- |
| ✅ | Ask for candidate to provide test cases and run through the code with them. |
| ✅ | Identify edge cases the candidate missed and ask the candidate to address them. Ask the candidate "What if X was the input? What would your code produce?" instead of pointing the issue out directly. |
| ✅ | Take note of the duration the candidate spent on each question to include in the feedback. |
| ✅ | Ask for time complexity and space analysis. |
| ✅ | Preserve the code somewhere - take a picture or copy the code out. |
| ✅ | Stop the candidate when there is 5 minutes left. e.g. ("I'll stop you here and let's go to the next section") |

### Wrap up

|  | Things |
| --- | --- |
| ✅ | Allow candidate to ask questions and answer them to the best of your ability. |
| ✅ | Thank the candidate and wish them all the best. |

### Post interview

|     | Things                                                    |
| --- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| ✅  | Write feedback as soon as possible to not forget details. |